“Sorry. No rooms left,” the hotel clerk told me.
“I think that was the last hotel in town,” I said, as I got back in the taxi.
“There is one more that we haven’t tried,” the taxi driver said.
Charlie Worthington, his son Mark and I had missed the last flight from Corozal after spending a couple of days in Chetumal, Mexico.
“Look,” I said, as we pulled up to the hotel. “The sign says ROOMS AVAILABLE.”
“O.K.” Charlie said. “Let’s get a double for the two of us. Mark can have a single.”
“We need two rooms,” I told the hotel clerk. “A double and a single.”
“It’s Carnival week,” the clerk said. “And nearly every room in this town is sold out. We do have one double left, though. We also have five single beds in what we call the dormitory room. That room is just for sleeping.”
“I’ll take a single bed,” Mark said. “Let these two old guys have the double room.”
“I have to be honest with you,” the clerk said. “The only reason we have five beds available is that there is one guy who is staying in the room. He snores so loudly that everyone we put in there moves out.”
“I can handle it,” Mark said.
“Alright, Mark,” Charlie said. “We’ll meet you for breakfast in the morning at that little restaurant we passed right down the street; the one on the corner.”
Charlie and I were having coffee the next morning when Mark walked in.
“How did you sleep last night?” I asked.
“Never better,” Mark said.
“Your roommate didn’t snore?”
“Oh, yeah. He came in around midnight and fell asleep. He started snoring and it sounded like that Yamaha ATV of mine when it had a bad muffler.”
“You slept through that?” Charlie asked.
“No. I went over and shook him. When he woke up I looked deep in his eyes and said, ‘Oh, you handsome man. I’m glad they put me in a room with someone like you.’ After that he stayed awake all night watching me.”
